Crowded House @ Phillips de Pury

Simon de Pury was remarking last week at all the art world folks who showed up at the 57th St. preview who never came downtown to Phillips de Pury’s 15th St. space.

So who was at Phillips de Pury last night? Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump; Steven Cohen showed up with some children in tow; Takashi Murakami and Bravo TV’s Work of Art reality-show winner, Abdi. Peter Brant was there but without his wife. Is that because she was already present in the sale room in the form of a Cattelan sculpture? Dozens of other art world regulars jammed the small room.

Of the 22 works that sold, four made over a million dollars, including Roy Lichtenstein‘s large-scale composition “Two Figures, Indian” (1979; est. $3-5 million), which sold to pharmaceutical magnate Stewart Rahr for $3,890,500, with New York dealer Helly Nahmad as the underbidder. Wearing blue jeans, a muscle T-shirt, and a hip-hop-ready gold neck chain, Rahr cast a rather menacing figure as he exited the salesroom but sounded quite pleasant as he said of his purchase: “It was a good buy, I think. I pick and choose.” He was accompanied by the Pop artist Peter Max who claimed the it was his first time visiting an auction room. Said Max, “It’s really amazing to see how much money was spent on art tonight.”